Thornton Hibs made it into the draw for the second round of the Fife and Lothians Cup - but only just.

And they did it the hard way after coming from a goal behind and playing for almost the whole of the second half a man down after Kris Maxwell was ordered-off for a second yellow card offence.

The visitors took the lead in the 17th minute when Neil Shave cut in from the right and drilled the ball low into the far corner. It was a deserved lead too, as the Hibs had looked a bit lethargic up until then.

Chris Ireland claimed the equaliser with a clever backheel in the 31st minute and that was the end of the first-half scoring.

Three minutes into the second-half, the referee was of the opinion that Maxwell was guilty of simulation when he went down in the box and as this was the midfielder’s second yellow, it meant that the Hibs were reduced to ten men.

This decision appeared to shed the lethargy from Thornton and they did not look as if they were numerically disadvantaged. It was no surprise, then, when they took the lead in the 56th minute. Andrew Adam’s great pass found Bradley Grieve steaming down the inside right channel. It was Grieve’s brilliant first touch that gave him the opportunity to lash the ball high into the roof of the net, giving Paul Cadger no chance.

Shave came mighty close to equalising just three minutes later. His first effort was well saved by Mark Rowbotham and then he hit the post with his second attempt. He had better luck in the 66th minute though, when he ran almost half the length of the park before shooting home.

Chris Ireland thought he’d snatched a late winner when he dived to head the ball into the net but it was disallowed for offside.

So the tie went to penalties. Chris Ireland, Andrew Adam, Ian Shanks, Adam Drummond and Blair Smart (on his debut) all tucked for the Hibs but Mark Rowbotham’s great save from Craig Fraser ensured that Craig Gilbert’s men kept alive their hopes of reaching the final as they did in 2009.

Edinburgh United: Cadger, Kerr, Smeaton, Fraser, Gibbons, Collins, Smith, Finnie, Shave, Blair, Mitchell. Subs: Campbell, Begbie, Thomson, Oswald.

Referee: Mr J. Curran